We Stand Together
by Evendale
Summary: Renarin and Jasnah really need to talk after what happened in Thaylen City.


**Note:** Major spoilers for Oathbringer! Much of this is speculation, let me know what you think! Reviews are very much appreciated ?

Jasnah Kholin, first Queen of Alethkar, was working late as usual. She had dismissed most of her servants for the night, leaving only a double pair of guards at the doors to her study and another pair further down the hall. The Stormlight-infused diamond spheres in lamps above her desk threw an even, unwavering light on the pile of documents she was slowly working through, occasionally making annotations or additions. She was frowning at a particularly wordy petition from Sebarial when there was a quiet knock on the door.

"Enter", she said, looking up as Renarin timidly edged into the room, keeping his eyes down.

"You requested to see me, Your Majesty?" he asked, staying right next to the door.

Jasnah sighed inwardly. She had no problem with protocol from anyone else, but she wished her own family would not insist on treating her so formally. "Yes, Renarin, thank you for coming. Please, sit down."

She gestured towards a sofa at the side of the room, and he sat down stiffly.

"We have not had an opportunity to speak yet, after… what happened at Thaylen City", she said, getting up from her desk and walking over to him. "What with the wedding and the coronation."

As she joined him on the sofa, she noticed that he shifted away from her. She hesitated.

"Are you afraid of me?" she asked him softly.

"No", he said, still not meeting her gaze. "I owe you my life."

She felt something twist inside her at those words. Suddenly she was back there, standing over him with her Shardblade, trying to be strong, trying not to see him as her little cousin, but as the traitor she feared him to be. The image of him kneeling before her, bowing his head in resignation, exposing his neck to her Blade… that image would never leave her. That memory of what she had almost done. She shook herself.

"You really think I would have killed you?" she asked, her voice low.

"I think you would have done what was right", he replied in a quiet voice.

"But it would not have been right", she said firmly. "It would have been a terrible mistake."

"You don't know that", he said. He looked up for the first time, and she could see how conflicted he felt. "My spren is corrupted. Maybe I'm corrupted as well. The enemy seems to be getting information from inside Urithiru and… Jasnah, what if he's getting it through me? What if I'm connected to him without knowing it?"

She considered this very carefully. Then… "Can I see your spren?" she asked.

Renarin's eyes went wide, and she hastened to explain. "I'm not going to hurt him. I simply want to observe."

He hesitated, then started whispering to a spot of what seemed like empty air beside his left shoulder. Slowly, the little red spren shimmered into view, as if unwilling to show itself. It stayed very close to Renarin.

"This is an anomaly, Jasnah", Ivory said from beside her. "But very interesting."

"His name is Glys, you say?" Jasnah asked her cousin, trying to be as gentle as possible, knowing full well that this was not her strong suit. Renarin nodded. "Well, this is my spren, Ivory."

She nodded towards Ivory, and he popped into view, fully human-sized. Renarin scrambled back a little further in alarm, and Jasnah hastened to apologize.

"I forget how intimidating he can be at first", she said. Then she held out her hand, and Ivory disappeared and rematerialized on her palm, now about as big as a finger. Despite himself, Renarin looked fascinated.

"He can change his size at will?" he asked curiously.

"Yes", Jasnah said, depositing Ivory on her knee. "Is this something your spren is incapable of doing?"

"I think so…" Renarin said.

"Fascinating", she replied, noting the crystalline structure of Glys and the way he seemed to be oriented towards the ceiling. "Do you mind if I take notes?"

"Uh… I suppose not", he said, looking a little confused. She was already writing rapidly in a little notebook, occasionally glancing up at Glys.

"Do you think he will speak to me?" she asked. "Linguistic patterns seem to vary between the different kinds of spren."

The boy quietly conferred with his spren, who flashed different shades of red. Finally he looked back at Jasnah. "I'm afraid he's a bit shy", he said apologetically.

Jasnah shoved down her impatience. Of course the little spren didn't trust her – she had almost killed his bonded Radiant. It would take time, she told herself. Just like it would take time for Renarin to trust her again…

"Do you think Glys's corruption is really bad?" Renarin asked her anxiously. "He… he doesn't _feel_ evil or anything."

Jasnah stopped writing and gave the spren a scrutinizing look. It scooted a bit closer to Renarin, hovering near the boy's ear in a semi-transparent state, as if considering making himself invisible again. Finally Jasnah spoke.

"The corruption of a spren is caused by a creature called Sja-anat, one of Odium's Unmade. From what I can glean from ancient lore, the Radiants feared Sja-anat above all others, precisely because of her corruptive powers. This seems to indicate that corrupted spren were beyond redemption, or might even be unable to stay bonded to their Radiant."

Renarin hung his head, but Jasnah wasn't finished yet.

"Yet you _have_ bonded this spren, and you _are_ a Radiant", she continued. "There's no mistaking that. You use Stormlight, not Voidlight."

She paused for a moment, considering, and Renarin seemed a bit more hopeful.

"I have spoken at length with Shallan about her experiences in Kholinar", Jasnah said. "She tells me that she met Sja-anat in person, and that the Unmade seems to… have become more self-aware recently. The creature told Shallan that she was no longer of Odium, and that she was trying to help the Radiants. She said to 'ask her son'. I assume she meant your spren, cousin."

Renarin glanced at Glys in surprise, and the little red snowflake glowed a little brighter.

"Glys says it's true", he said eagerly. "He says he's starting to remember! But what does that mean, Jasnah? For us?"

"I have no idea", she sighed. "We seem to be in unprecedented territory here. I have no idea how far the Unmade can detach themselves from Odium. Yet I tend to believe that Sja-anat is trying. After all, she didn't kill the Radiants when they tried to use the Oathgate, even though she was ordered to do so."

"So do you think I'm just a Radiant, then, like anyone else?" he asked her, hope making his eyes shine.

"Not precisely", she said carefully. "As a Truthwatcher, you should have the Surges of Illumination and Progression. Yet you seem to have a different… power… as well."

"My visions", he mumbled, turning inward again.

"Yes", she said. "Seeing the future, we have always been told, comes from Odium."

"People who see the future shouldn't be trusted", he said softly. "That's what the lore says."

She regarded him thoughtfully. "I wonder… if, perhaps, that particular piece of lore might not have been misinterpreted."

Renarin looked up at her. "How so?"

"I think perhaps it's not the _people_ who shouldn't be trusted, but the visions themselves. The future is not set in stone. You witnessed that yourself."

"I saw you kill me", he whispered.

She grimaced, feeling a stab of sorrow for him. He had gone through so much, suffering in isolation. She should have been there for him. She should have seen.

"And yet I didn't", she said. "In all honesty, Renarin, I don't think I could have done it."

"But my visions had always been correct before", he said. "Why were they wrong then?"

"I can only speculate", she said. "But I think your visions do not take into account that people have free will. They show you a _possible_ version of the future, perhaps one that is more _likely_ than the others. Yet they are clearly not inevitable."

He stared at her, eyes wide as she continued.

"When your visions show you inanimate matters – say, for example, you discovering the hidden gemstones in the wall of Urithiru – there isn't much possible variation. People, however, are much more unpredictable. We can, at all times, choose to step off of the path of least resistance, and do something unexpected." She paused. "That is at once a terrifying and deeply comforting thought."

"Why terrifying?" he asked, and she sighed.

"Because it means we have to take responsibility for our own actions. Because it means 'fate' does not exist, and we have to make our own destiny."

"I like that", he said softly. "I've rarely felt like I had a choice, before…"

Once again, Jasnah felt a stab of guilt as she looked at her cousin. She should have seen. How had she somehow made the same mistake as everybody else, of disregarding Renarin, of not really paying attention to him. True, he had avoided her ever since she had returned to Urithiru. She hadn't thought much of it, thinking that it was a natural effect of him growing up, of them having been apart for years. Now she realized that he had been avoiding her because he was afraid she would figure out his secrets. He hadn't trusted her enough to confide in her. _What does that say about me_ , Jasnah wondered. She shook her head. This was something she would have to make up to him.

"Jasnah?" he asked, rousing her from her thoughts. "Why me? Why am I always the one who is wrong?"

She frowned. "Don't equate 'being different' with 'being wrong', Renarin", she said.

"But I…"

"Do you _feel_ wrong?" she asked. "Your bond with Glys, does it feel wrong, twisted in some way?"

"No", he says softly. "It doesn't."

"Then it must be right", she said simply.

He looked up at her. "But how?"

"I don't know", she replied. "But perhaps we can find out together."

She held out her hand to him, and after a moment's hesitation, he took it.

"From now on, we stand together. I will not fail you again."

She gently squeezed his hand, and his grip on her hand tightened. Her little cousin, Jasnah thought. He had been scared, he had been broken, but there was strength in him yet.


End file.
